552 



BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



signs of the disease he simply scatters a liberal coat of 

 flowers of sulphur— enough to cover the ground well — 

 over the roots and spades it in lightly. 



English Rhododendrons.— English journals boast of 

 the enormous scale on which choice English hybrid rhodo- 

 dendrons are imported into America. " Many thousands 

 are sent over in March, packed in cases with dry moss, 

 and after a fortnight's journey are said to flower perfectly 

 well. England is not altogether played out yet." Why 

 should we import English rhododendrons when we have 

 so many fine ones of our own, better adapted to our soil 

 and climate, that might be hybridized into as beautiful 

 forms and colors? — L G. 



A Nasturtium Border. — In setting out some nastur- 

 tium-plants this spring, mistaking climbers for dwarfs, 

 I planted a row along the side of a path. To make the 

 best of it, I have since, by a little occasional attention, 

 managed to keep all the runners in a line parallel with 

 the path. Those that obstinately refused to come into 

 the arrangement I simply headed off The result is 

 highly satisfactory. The different sorts and colors are 

 now twined together, forming a gay and beautiful border. 

 — W. O. Eastwood, Canada. 



Plant Them Deeply. — If you expect to set some bulbs 

 of the great Washington lily (L. \Vashingl07ua71um) 

 of California this fall, plant them one foot deep. So we 

 planted ours, and the result in growing and the July 

 bloom of this remarkable species was astonishing. There 

 were 20 lilies out at one time on a single stalk, which was 

 five feet high. A friend who saw the plant says he has 

 rever succeeded in getting a blossom from this lily ; but 

 he planted the bulbs only 4 or 5 inches deep. A foot 

 seems pretty deep, but it is right. 



Hardy sunflowers are coming to the front. Here 

 they come up in the fall, grow all winter, and in April 

 begin to bloom, continuing until frost. They are a little 

 larger than the perennial gaillardias, and of a deep rich 

 yellow. The plants grow about four feet high, branching 

 freely, and are loaded with flowers. I keep all old 

 flowers cut off. Here the young girls wear them a great 

 deal, as they are almost everlasting, and can be worn 

 with almost any dress. Indeed the sunflower has become 

 as fashionable as many of the blue-blooded hothouse 

 flowers. — Margaret Campbell, Louisiana . 



II. THRIFTY SAPLINGS. 

 Seedling Fruits. — It is easy to grow seedlings from 

 any of our leading, fruits. When parents have not time 

 for it themselves, children, if furnished with the seeds, 

 would enjoy the experiment and develop a taste for 

 horticulture. Some of our best Wisconsin apples origi- 

 nated from seedlings — Wolf River, Pewaukee, Windsor 

 Chief and others — all hardy in this cold climate. We 

 have much reason to be grateful to the originators of 

 these varieties. Of course, every seedling does not prove 

 valuable, but if one out of a hundred is good we are well 

 repaid. Love of the work and perseverance have accom- 

 plished much in this line, and will accomplish more. — 

 L. H. Read, JVis. 



The Nomenclature Committee. — Must the duties 

 of this useful committee of the Society of American 

 Florists be widened to protect our originators of new 

 varieties of plants in England also ? According to The 

 Arnericau Florist, some fine new chrysanthemums, 

 raised by H. Tong, of which he held the entire stock up 

 to last fall, were offered to the public in the catalogue of 

 an English firm before he had permitted a single plant 

 to go out of his possession. At least the names he had 

 given the plants and had registered with the American 

 Chrysanthemum Society were used, and in response to a 

 query sent to the firm by a friend, at his suggestion, they 

 referred to the varieties as American chrysanthemums. 



Eel-Worms and Ferns. — In Garden and Forest Pro- 

 fessor Halsted calls attention to the fact that eel-worms 

 (nematoids) are very destructive to young ferns. In one 

 bed of young ferns that he noticed, the dead plants were 

 separated from the living by a line as distinct as that be- 

 tween the burned and unburned sections of a meadow in 

 early spring. The first leaves of ferns are very small and 

 delicate, and two or three worms are sufficient to destroy 

 a plant, from which they pass on to others. The reme- 

 dies recommended are heating the soil in which fern- 

 spores are to be sown, to destroy the nematoids, and 

 afterwards keeping them out of the soil with applications 

 of lime-water or sulphur. 



Names for Colors of Roses.— F. Schuyler Mathews, 

 in The American Florist, critically considers the colors 

 of the Mermet and Watteville roses. While these sub- 

 jects have "a similarity in delicacy of color," yet they 

 present a strong contrast in point of color-character 

 The Mermet's pink is yellowish ; that of the Watteville 

 is wedded to a yellow, while it retains its color-tone un- 

 compromised. After a careful analysis he would describe 

 Mermet as a most delicate pink rose, composite in char- 

 acter and yellowish in tone ; Watteville as dual in color- 

 character, the pink almost pure by itself and the creamy 

 yellow tone of two-thirds of the petal distinctly unaffec- 

 ted by the pink. 



Long-Stemmed Carnations. — The remarkable 

 growth in the popularity of the carnation as a vase and 

 corsage flower may be said to have kept pace with the 

 growth of the stems in length. Perhaps even the found- 

 ation of our National Carnation Society may be attri- 

 buted to the last named cause. In any event, the results 

 which have been reached by American florists in raising 

 seedlings with long stems— changing the carnation from 

 a short-stemmed to a race of long-stemmed flowers— is 

 remarkable. Blooms of Hinzie's White carnation have 

 recently been authentically reported as fully two feet 

 long and of corresponding stiffness. The flowers sur- 

 mounting them were 2j4 inches across. 



Arnold Arboretum of Boston has this distinct feature, 

 as compared with the great botanic gardens of Europe : 

 its collection embraces only what can properly be called 

 woody growths, while other botanical gardens are largely 

 devoted to herbaceous plants. As a tree-museum, it will, 

 in time, if it does not now, excel every other collection 

 m the world. The area of 150 acres included in the 



